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Sunday, July 22, 2012

Interview with a Vampire Author

I would like to thank author Beck Sherman for agreeing to be interviewed. Sherman is the author of Revamp and isgiving away 5 copies of this ebook internationally in your choice of ePub, mobi, or PDF from Smashwords. Enter your information in our Rafflecopter located below the interview for your chance to win.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I grew up on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Attended a Catholic high school and in turn partied too much in college. I had a lot of jobs out of school, mostly in the restaurant business, but I also worked in the music industry in Los Angeles for a number of years and as a photographer. I’ve always been intrigued with the idea that things aren’t always what they seem in life and that the possibilities are endless. I have a soft spot for underdogs.

How long have you been writing?

My whole life. I think I wrote my first horror story when I was thirteen. It was a few pages long, about a girl who goes with her family to stay at a summer house and the caretaker who shows them around has glowing red eyes. For the life of me, I can’t remember what the story was called. Probably The Glowing Red Eyes.

Do you have a certain place that you like to write?

I wish I was like all those other writers who can just settle down in a Starbucks with a latte and bang out a book amongst the horde of caffeine addicts, but I need peace and quiet to write. So, I mainly write at home, wherever my desk is at the time. For some reason, it tends to move around a lot. Not on its own, of course.

How do you balance writing and family?

With a fourteen-month-old, it is very difficult. Since my daughter was born, I have mostly been doing Revamp promotion, which I can do at night after she goes to sleep. But once I start my third book (which will be very soon) it’s going to get interesting. Naps=Frantic Writing Time.

Have you always been interested in vampires? What about other types of horror?

Yes and yes. I am a HUGE horror fan and have been ever since childhood when my older brother would force me to watch scary movies with him. I became hooked. Name any horror movie and I’ve most likely seen it. I think this comes out a lot in my writing. I don’t understand “horror” writers who say that they can’t watch horror movies or read Stephen King because it’s all too scary. That irks me. As to vampires, the movie Lost Boys definitely opened up that obsession. I then turned to books, and back in the late eighties/early nineties, there wasn’t much vampire fiction to choose from. Slim pickings. But I found some good ones. Salem’s Lot. They Thirst. Later on, Vampyrrhic by Simon Clark. They were out there, but you had to dig.

Revamp is quite a long book, how long did it take to write?

I wrote Revamp for about seven years on and off, between big moves, big breakups, new loves, new jobs. My next book, already written, is half the size, but Revamp was always meant to be epic.

You did a wonderful job with creating your characters, were any of them based on people that you know?

Thank you. Most of my characters are people I’ve known, some I still know. Some are a mish mash of several people. I think that’s inevitable, despite the disclaimers.

I loved Schizo the only animal character in the book. Is Schizo based on your dog? Are you a dog person as opposed to a cat person?

I’ve owned dogs and cats and I’m a big animal lover. No animals will ever be mangled in my books, I make that promise. That’s one thing that always bothered me about Stephen King books.

The cover art is interesting. Did you design it or was that someone else's creation?

I took the photograph, and a friend, Chris Deal, did the design. In the beginning, I wanted to find a vintage photo from the 50s or 60s of a child dressed up as a vampire. An exhaustive internet search turned up nothing, so I employed my friend’s son as a model, who is autistic. I had about 5 seconds to get the shot, since he wasn’t into wearing a mask, and I got him kind of trying to pull it off, which in the end, I believe, worked with the plot of Revamp and forced vampirism on American society. I let Chris run with the design and I was really happy with what he turned out. He’s quite the talented guy.

Are there going to be any prequels or sequels to Revamp?

Possibly. Maybe. Never say never.

Do you have any other projects in the works?

I have another book that is written and will be out next year. And I like surprises. I think everyone does. So I’m not going to say anything about it just yet.

I noticed that there was a lot of vampire lore in Revamp that was drawn from literature and movies. Is this something that you've always been interested in or did it take a lot of time to research?

I don’t think I had to do any vampire research. It’s all been tucked away in my brain for a very long time.

Would you care to share one unusual fact about you that fans may not know?

One time, when I was living alone in London, I woke up at three in the morning to voices in my apartment. My television had just turned itself on. Scared. The. Crap. Out. Of. Me.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us?

Yes. Read Revamp. But not if you want sparkling vampires. Because they’re not in there. Sorry.

Thanks for agreeing to the interview

Thank you, Flora, for having me!

For more information on this auther visit their blog or their Goodreads Page.

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